Article

LATITUDE TRAFFIC AND TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
Posted on Tue 10th July 2012

With just days until the gates open for the seventh edition of Latitude taking place from the 12th-15th July Latitude organisers would like to issue some travel information. Those festival goers coming along to the festival to see headliners Bon Iver, Elbow and Paul Weller and the hundreds of other artists, are advised to read this information.

Latitude, the UK’s favourite multi-arts festival, is fit to bursting with a huge array of talent from the worlds of music, comedy, cabaret, film, theatre, poetry, literary and fashion. With Saturday advance day tickets already sold out, if you haven’t already done so the time is now to secure your place at Latitude this year.

Organisers Festival Republic are keen to encourage festival goers to respect the local environment and local residents and have put in place public transport options to encourage everyone to leave their cars at home.

TRAVELLING TO THE FESTIVAL

Getting to Latitude Festival couldn’t be easier with a convenient network of coaches, trains and shuttle buses to get right into the heart of the festival. With transport to the festival the biggest contributor to CO2 emissions, public transport options are essential to lightening the festival’s environmental load. Not only that, it will also help to reduce congestion in the car parks and on the surrounding roads.

BY BIKE & FOOT

Travelling to Latitude Festival by bike is of course the most environmentally friendly way of getting there so this year Latitude is excited to present an adventurous way of travelling to the festival in 2012 – the Tour de Latitude! This initiative is set to encourage festival goers to reduce their carbon footprint by cycling their way to the festival in Suffolk, whilst raising funds for the charity Kenyan Orphan Project which supports orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya and Julie's Bicycle who help make environmental sustainability intrinsic to the creative industries. Even if you decide not to join Tour de Latitude but decide to cycle, there will be bike racks available onsite for cyclists inside the walled garden accessed via Green Gate on the A145. Day ticket holders arriving by bike should use the day entrance on the B1123 to get onto site nearest to the day ticket holder entrance where they can lock up their bikes on the fencing.

Greater Anglia have asked us to discourage festival goers from bringing their bikes on the trains as space is limited.

It is not possible to approach the festival on foot - the roads around the site are not suitable for pedestrians - please use the shuttles buses from local villages and Halesworth. See further information on our website

COACH SERVICES

We have joined up with National Express, See Coaches and Anglian Bus to offer a variety of convenient and good value public transport options.

TRAIN TRAVEL

Travelling by train to Latitude Festival to either Halesworth or Diss stations has never been easier and shuttle buses will meet customers at the station to take them to site. Customers are advised to avoid travelling via Halesworth station on Thursday, Friday and Monday as capacity and frequency is very limited. During these times Diss is a better option.

SHUTTLE BUSES

Shuttle buses run by Anglian Bus will leave regularly from both Diss and Halesworth train stations and will travel straight through the gates into site to the festival bus station. The shuttle buses run regularly, the operation should be smooth and hassle free and there will be enough shuttle buses to meet the demand. Day ticket holders can use the day shuttle services from Halesworth direct to the day entrance. Full info can be found HERE

LOCAL BUS SERVICES

Anglian Bus are running a special bus from Southwold to the Latitude Festival bus station via Wangford, Reydon and Blythburgh in the morning and early afternoon returning after 23.00 each night. Please see website for the full timetable.

CAR TRAVEL

Henham Park, the site of Latitude Festival, is between the A12 and A145 north of Blythburgh in Suffolk. From the A12 and from the A145 follow the Festival signs. Please note that clearway orders are in place on the A12 and A145 which means that you can’t stop on the public highway. Please don’t stop but follow the signage straight into the car parks. Please don’t use your sat nav as temporary routings and one way systems will be in operation.

The car parks are looking great at the moment and feel good underfoot. The ground is sandy onsite at Latitude and so drains really well and we’re confident that a few showers will not cause disruption to this amazing event. Whilst Latitude does not anticipate any scenes such as those witnessed at the Isle of Wight festival recently, there is always the possibility of slight delays due to peak times and the weather so please ensure you use the Latitude Facebook page (facebook.com/latitudefestival) and official Twitter (@LatitudeFest) where you can find regular updates of the car park situation every two hours on Thursday 12th July.

Tickets will be checked inside the site and not on the gates with the A12 and A145. Please travel straight into site where you will be able drop passengers off, find out answers to any questions you might have about the festival and exit back onto the main roads.

Peak traffic flows are likely on the afternoon of Thursday 12 July and on the morning of Friday 13 July and then late evening on Sunday 15 July and before noon on Monday 16 July.

Weekend and day car parking is separate to the campsites in adjacent or nearby fields. Parking is included in the price of your ticket. No sleeping, camping or fires are allowed in the car parks.

All drop offs and pick ups for weekend ticket holders are via Red Gate 1 on the A12 including by taxi. You can enter the site, drop off and exit the site via Red Gate 4. Follow the signage for “weekend drop off / pick up”

All drop offs and pick ups for day ticket holders are via the Day Gate on the B1123 including by taxi. You can enter the site, drop off and then exit the site via the same gate. Follow the signage for “day cars” and “day drop off / pick up”.

For safety reasons, please do not drop passengers off on the main roads, there are no pavements - you can drop them off safely and easily well inside the site. There is no pedestrian entry from the gates on the B1123, A12 and the A145 into site so if you are dropping someone off or picking them up, you need to use the drop off / pick up points inside the site.

The routes to the festival will be well signposted and have been publicised via promotional literature, the internet and in written information sent out with all tickets to the event.

Those travelling from the south on the A12 will be directed straight into site from the A12.

Those travelling from the Lowestoft direction on the A12 will be directed straight into site from the A145 via Middle Barn Lane which connects the A12 and the A145.

Those travelling from the north on the A145 from the Beccles direction will be directed straight into site from the A145.

Day ticket holders will be directed straight into site from the B1123.

Routes may change on the day so do always follow the signage.

CAR SHARING

If you have to come by car because the bus and train just won’t work for you, please try and fill up all the seats in your car. It really does make a difference to congestion and emissions.

Latitude Festival is partnering with goCarShare. It's built around Facebook and connects festival-goers, so you can see if you have any friends, or friends of friends, heading the same way. You can even see which bands other users like.

There is priority parking right by one of the site entrances for the first 200 cars to sign up, which means no time wasted looking for a space and a short walk to the campsite. All occupants of the car, passengers and driver, will be in with a chance to win a pair of tickets for Latitude 2013. The goCarShare team will even wash their car for them!

DAY TICKET HOLDERS/PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Day ticket holders wishing to travel to site using public transport rather than by car-sharing or by car are advised to plan their return journey after the main entertainment finishes in advance as there are no train services from Halesworth or Diss at that time of night and therefore the shuttle bus will not run at that time. Taxi services have been invited to come to the day car park site to pick up at this time however it is advisable to book in advance. There is a list of taxi companies on the Latitude website. There is also a day ticket holder campsite onsite for day ticket holders that cannot travel home that night and wish to stay overnight instead and travel home the following morning. Facilities are limited but there is no charge for the use of this campsite.

ECOTRAVEL FACTS

1- Travelling in a full coach is the greenest form of motor transport.

2- Travelling by train emits three and half times less CO2 than travelling alone by car.

3- If you must bring your car, please consider transporting as many people as possible and travelling at off peak times. This reduces congestion considerably and for every extra person in your car you drastically reduce the amount of CO2 emissions per person. Having four people in a car actually brings the CO2 per person down to less than on a train!

4- If every car coming to Latitude Festival had 4 people in it, there could be almost 3000 fewer cars and a reduction in CO2 emissions of almost 240 tonne!

CO2 Emissions Per Passenger Km:

(1) Coach: 30g.

(2) Big Car: 272.4g.

(3) Train: 53.4g.

Based on 2010 DEFRA audience transport analysis of occupancy, car numbers and average drive distances.

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